Dealers Deliver on Customer Experience in November

Inventories hit some of their highest levels in years last month and the ability to find the car they wanted made it easier for shoppers to complete the entire purchase process. The CDK Ease of Purchase score hit 91% in November up from 87% in October and close to the 93% high recorded in August.

This year we’ve seen that more robust inventories and the ability to find what they wanted in stock has driven up the main metric. Gains in negotiating prices and trade-ins also seem to move the needle significantly.

Three out of five (62%) car buyers said they found the car they wanted in stock. That’s up significantly from 49% in October. The number who bought in transit fell steeply, too, to just 15% from 19% in October. Just 14% of buyers ordered a car from the factory, down from 19%.

Having so much inventory on hand meant dealers were able to keep buyers from going elsewhere. Nearly half of buyers (45%) only visited a single store to buy the car they wanted. This is one of the highest since 2022 and only 33% of buyers visited one store in October. Another 30% visited two stores with 25% visiting three or more stores in November.

We’ve also seen robust inventories make it easier on the test drive part of the purchase process and that proved true once again in November. Nearly nine out of 10 (87%) buyers said it was easy to take a test drive, up sharply from 78% in October.

Financial dealings were mixed. There was positive movement on price negotiations with 71% of buyers saying it was easy, up from 67% in October. But agreeing on the value of the trade-in wasn’t as easy on buyers this month, dropping to just 56% from 60% in November.

A respondent to the survey explained that the dealership was “very upfront about pricing and found me great financing.”

The number of people who said it was easy to apply for credit remained at 67% this month, which is a high mark historically in our study.

One out of five (20%) buyers also said they spent less time buying their car than they expected, up from 15% in October but still lower than what we’ve seen recently. In September, for example, 25% said it took less time. One commenter did say they experienced “no waiting” during their purchase process. Dealership wait time is generally one of the most common friction points buyers experience. And little of this gain took away from those who said it took longer than expected, which remained over 30% for the second month in a row.

Overall, car sales were up in November. Despite the increased volume of deals being made and more cars flowing onto lots, dealers seemed to deliver on the customer experience.